The Dog Days Of Summer

What exactly does the term mean, and where did it come from? I guess that I will have to do a little research and let all of you know. But I believe that the "dog days" have arrived and I can tell that by the constant rotation of hounds on my back deck. It seems as though I always have 1 near me, either on guard duty, thinking that I need protection, or just hanging around cause they love me that much. The other is normally laying out in the sun, basking, shall I say in the sun. When they reach their limit of the heat and sun he comes in and lays somewhere near me and the other goes out to bask for a while. Makes me wonder though if they are in to protect me or out to keep watch over the yard.
Sunday night I was awoke by Pebbles barking fiercely at about 130 am. I told her to be quiet, she did as I asked, but only a minute or less later she started up again. This time I figured that I had better get up because that is really not like her to start barking over nothing. I actually figured that perhaps someone had broken into the garage and was stealing tools. So as I am walking across the sun room Pebbles in total guard dog duty, the houndies just waking up but having no clue what exactly they should be barking about. One of them did actually bark, I am not sure which one, I think that it was Hoover though. I hear a loud thump that sounded like a door closing. (I had my truck stolen last year from our yard) I then saw him, a bear, a black bear, a decent sized guy, about 3 years old I would guess, maybe in that 300 to 400 lb range. He was in my garbage shed, helping himself when Pebbles started to bark again, so off he went. Walking back down the driveway toward the back yard again. He didn't break anything, and didn't have a chance to make a big mess before Pebbles heard him out there. The houndies were settling back onto the couch before I was back in bed, still now totally oblivious to what was happening only a few feet from their doggy door. and a foot from their fence. He never returned last night, we cleaned the garbage cans and the little shed that they stay in, and put the garbage into the garage for the night. Today was garbage day, and now its gone, but it was beginning to get a little smelly.
I expanded my ducky fence yesterday and gave them a bunch more room to run around in and eat. They are crazy little critters, these 2 are still doing really well, and I would guess that the big brown one must be getting close to the 3 lb mark. Well I had better get going, I have plenty to do today, and cant sit around on the computer all day. Have a good one, enjoy what ever weather you happen to be getting. After all rain renews the earth and is good for our souls........